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Luke Zechman




Location: Lock Haven Pennsylvania
Joined: 18 Jan 2009

Posts: 278

PostPosted: Fri 21 Sep, 2012 8:36 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I have recently revisited this thread, and was unable to access the second article Romulus has posted. This article contained excellent information on 30 different sica examples, with great illustrations and pictures. Does anyone know where this article can be found, or is anyone able to access it from the link provided without a 404 error?
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Mike Zielinski




Location: Lublin, Poland
Joined: 04 Oct 2010

Posts: 34

PostPosted: Wed 01 Jan, 2014 2:11 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Danny Grigg wrote:
The following are from the book "The Complete Encyclopedia Of Arms & Weapons edited by Leonid Tarassuk & Claude Blair":

Sica
Greco-Roman term for a single-edged, pointed dagger, with a strongly curved blade forming a virtual right angle with the grip. Of Thraco-Illyrian origin, it was used by the Etruscans and the Ligurians, and particularly by the peoples living beyond the Rhine and the Danube. In those early time (6th-4th centuries B.C.) all weapons with curved were referred to by Greek authors as machaira or kopis. It was not until the Hellenistic period that the term sica was used, with reference to atrocities committed by the Thracians and the Illyrian foot soldiers. As early as the 1st century B.C. the term sicarii was used to describe brigands (for example, Illyrian pirates who roamed up and down the Adriatic shores) and professional assassins.

Falx Supina
(Latin, "recurving sickle"). A particular type of war knife of Oriental origin, with a curved blade and concave cutting edge, used in Roman times by Thracian gladiators. It was so named because of its shape close resembled that of a sickle. A similar weapon was developed in the western Mediterranean area, where it was considered as a sacrifical instrument and associated with various mythical figures, including Zeus striving with Typhon and Hercules fighting the Hydra of Lernia. See also HARPÉ



Does anyone can tell me if sword in Osprey Gladiators 100 BC - 200 AD (page 49) is a very long sica or falx supina?

Regards.
Mike from Poland

Stand your ground and fight,
Stand and do your best,
You must be hard as nails,
And kill with sword and hand,
So if you would be the hero
This is your chance.
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Romulus Stoica




Location: Hunedoara, Transylvania, Romania
Joined: 26 Oct 2006

Posts: 124

PostPosted: Wed 01 Jan, 2014 5:30 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

To Luke Zechman:

You can read or download the article of the romanian archeologist Catalin Borangic about the sica dagger here on SCRIBD: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33875732/Borangic-C...V-7-8-2009
Here is an article about making two replica sica daggers as an experimental archaeology project:
http://www.arheovest.com/simpozion/arheovest1/49_821_836.pdf
Here an article about another curved blade weapon or toll converted to weapon, named "cosor": http://nemvs.sarmizegetusa.net/201001.pdf
And here an article about the falx: http://www.cclbsebes.ro/docs/sebus/08_Borangic.pdf
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Waldemar Duszka




Location: Polska
Joined: 25 May 2012

Posts: 57

PostPosted: Thu 02 Jan, 2014 1:47 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hi Mike
Drawing ... here's Dacian falx weapon iron type with measuring tape ... what the ....... kad and how dated I do not know, here is a very interesting presentation of two-edged sword.
The photo is from a museum in Cluj, and there have falx as wooden weapons.
Regards
Waldemar Duszka "Ibor"



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Ibor
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Mike Zielinski




Location: Lublin, Poland
Joined: 04 Oct 2010

Posts: 34

PostPosted: Thu 02 Jan, 2014 3:49 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Thanks Waldemar Happy Do You or anybody Wink know where come from this double-edged falx from drawing?

Regards,
Mike from Poland

Stand your ground and fight,
Stand and do your best,
You must be hard as nails,
And kill with sword and hand,
So if you would be the hero
This is your chance.
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Romulus Stoica




Location: Hunedoara, Transylvania, Romania
Joined: 26 Oct 2006

Posts: 124

PostPosted: Thu 02 Jan, 2014 6:43 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

That falx is not double edged , it has only a false edge on a short distance at the tip. It was discovered at Sarmisegetusa Regia, (The dacian capital at Grădiştea Muncelului near present day city Orăştie, Hunedoara County in Transylvania). The weapons in the photo are not falxes but the weapon named "cosor" a shorter deep curved blade on a longer wooden handle. You can find more examples in the pdf documents I have posted the links in my previous post.
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Mike Zielinski




Location: Lublin, Poland
Joined: 04 Oct 2010

Posts: 34

PostPosted: Thu 02 Jan, 2014 11:39 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Huge thanks Romulus! Happy

Regards,
Mike from Poland

Stand your ground and fight,
Stand and do your best,
You must be hard as nails,
And kill with sword and hand,
So if you would be the hero
This is your chance.
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Kirk Lee Spencer




Location: Texas
Joined: 24 Oct 2003

Spotlight topics: 6
Posts: 820

PostPosted: Wed 29 Mar, 2017 9:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Just started working on this long lost project. Found a nice block of wenge and will do a one piece gladius type grip. So far I have only roughed out the grip and the blade.

ks



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SicaRough.jpg


Two swords
Lit in Eden’s flame
One of iron and one of ink
To place within a bloody hand
One of God or one of man
Our souls to one of
Two eternities
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Kai Lawson





Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Likes: 7 pages

Posts: 589

PostPosted: Thu 30 Mar, 2017 7:37 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Looking forward to this one!
"And they crossed swords."
--William Goldman, alias S. Morgenstern
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Hadrian Coffin
Industry Professional



Location: Oxford, England
Joined: 03 Apr 2008

Posts: 403

PostPosted: Sat 01 Apr, 2017 5:13 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

In the Toledo Army Museum (Spain)... there is a rather similar looking dagger, which I can unfortunately recall no other information about, but it is almost the same profile. If you are looking for examples, it may be useful, this is all I have:

Best,

Hadrian



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[ Download ]

Historia magistra vitae est
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Kirk Lee Spencer




Location: Texas
Joined: 24 Oct 2003

Spotlight topics: 6
Posts: 820

PostPosted: Tue 11 Apr, 2017 8:55 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hi Hadrian...

Very nice celto-iberian antenna sword/dagger (c.300BC I think). The dimensions are very close to what I am working with... however the shadow pattern under the blade makes it look like it is a thin straight blade that has the last third of the blade bent forward out of the plane of the blade. To my eye, it looks like the curve in the blade is due to the optics of the camera angle and the slight forward bend of the
tip. But you are right in that the apparent shape is very close to my sica blade.

It is also interesting that, I suspect, these celto-iberian daggers may have been the inspiration for the large dagger of the Roman legions called the pugio. If so then it may be the ancestor of the short, straight daggers used by gladiators. I don't know if the pugio was more of a camp knife or a fighting knife or both... however, if it was used for fighting then this up-close melee fighting of the Roman legions with their camp-knives may have become one of the most popular fights of the area. Very very few gladiatorial edged weapons have been preserved (I can only think of a couple from the gladiator barracks at Pompeii) and these are pugio like daggers. These small dagger-like weapons also appear to be much more common in the iconographic material.

Thanks for your interest Hadrian...

ks



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Gladiator's Dagger from Gladiatorial Barracks at Pompeii

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Gladiator's Dagger from Gladiatorial Barracks at Pompeii

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Gladiator's Dagger from Gladiatorial Barracks at Pompeii

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Gladiator's Dagger from Gladiatorial Barracks at Pompeii

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Pugios and Pugio Blades.
Lower left blade shows a beautiful patternwelded core


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aPompeiiDaggers.jpg
Gladiator Daggers from Pompeii

Two swords
Lit in Eden’s flame
One of iron and one of ink
To place within a bloody hand
One of God or one of man
Our souls to one of
Two eternities
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Kirk Lee Spencer




Location: Texas
Joined: 24 Oct 2003

Spotlight topics: 6
Posts: 820

PostPosted: Mon 17 Apr, 2017 8:11 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Kai Lawson wrote:
Looking forward to this one!



Hi Kai...

Thanks for the encouragement...

Here is another picture.

A little less rough after a little sanding.

ks



 Attachment: 376.78 KB
SicaProjectGroovedGripWeb.jpg


Two swords
Lit in Eden’s flame
One of iron and one of ink
To place within a bloody hand
One of God or one of man
Our souls to one of
Two eternities
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J. Nicolaysen




Location: Wyoming
Joined: 03 Feb 2014
Likes: 32 pages

Posts: 795

PostPosted: Wed 19 Apr, 2017 9:00 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here is the Encyclopedia Dacica, kindly provided by a Romanian friend who is building a falx for me. I may commission a sica from him later. Many articles, I hope they add to this thread.

http://www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/?operatie=s...ie=english


This article focuses on the Sica, with some typology, etc: http://www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/?operatie=s...ian_graves
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